BHS homecoming is bit hit

Liston Stadium, packed with Baldwin High School alumni and students alike, was overflowing with high spirits Friday at the showdown with the Anderson County Bulldogs. Homecoming was in the air.

Baldwin cruised past the black and red Bulldogs at half-time with a score 21-6 and held the crowning for King and Queen of BHS.

Candidates for the 2000 court included Lisa Gilliland, Kristen Wessel and Erin Wright, along with Heath Knight, Ben Cosman and Tyler Craig. Wessel was crowned queen and Craig king.

BHS then put the football machine into high gear and rolled over Anderson County in the second half for a 41-6 win. It helped cap a big week.

During the week the BHS student body took part in Homecoming pep rallies. Each day included a "class unity" theme and pep rally game competition between the four classes. Students also competed between the classes with booth competition. The theme for the week for decorating was "Purple Reign."

"Student Council officers spent a lot of time putting the activities together," said Wright, STUCO vice president. "When you saw students' faces, you knew your time put in paid off. It felt great. The whole week was very fun."

On Monday the class unity theme was class colors. Seniors wore orange, juniors purple, sophomores blue and freshmen pink. At the pep rally students competed in the river walk game by walking on paper plates. The object of the game was to get all of the students through without stepping off the plates.

Tuesday included classes "theme" day. Each class had a different theme to dress to. Judges were on the watch for how many students of each class participated with the Bulldog spirit. Seniors were chosen to wear Hawaiian, juniors to dress in military attire, sophomores to wear safari and freshmen were stuck with pajamas. At the Tuesday pep rally classes raced to the "toilet paper passing" contest.

Wednesday brought "shoe-nity," meaning each class matched in shoes alike. Seniors were to wear sandals, juniors in boots, sophomores wore athletic shoes and freshman showed up in slippers. The pep assembly of "spiny bat" brought much entertainment to all of BHS. Rules were set to spin around a bat 20 times, then run through a series of orange cones.

Students displayed spirit by pattern unity Thursday. Levels of excitement and anticipation rose while BHS cast ballots during lunch for the Homecoming candidates. This day classes matched in patterns and were judged by their participation. Seniors had solids, juniors plaid, sophomores stripes and freshman in polka-dot. The pep rally was a showdown in class tug-of-war. Even faculty joined in a pull against the seniors. Not surprisingly, the senior class came out with the victory.

Long awaited Friday came with much joy. All classes were dressed in original school spirit whether that included a football jersey, a cheerleading uniform, homemade spirit shirts, Bulldog faculty shirts or just royal purple.

BHS student body lit up historical downtown Baldwin with team floats, spirit and shocking water balloons thrown by the 4-1 football team.

The pep rally's climax was the pie-eating contest between the couples for King and Queen. This event showed true royalty when all three King candidates plastered the three Queens with a face full of whip cream pie.

"During homecoming week it was great to see the school show so much spirit," said senior Ben Cosman. "The downtown pep rally was the most fun because I threw pie in Kristen Wessel's face."

The Bulldog showdown football game brought alumni of all generations to watch the BHS victory over Anderson County.

Crown and scepter bearers were Tucker Brown and Alexis Theis. Tucker is the son of Dan and Jill Brown of Baldwin. Jill is the head volleyball coach at BHS. Alexis is the daughter of David and Deanna Theis. Theis teaches science at BHS, along with coaching volleyball.

While the three king candidates s stood sweating in jerseys trying to pin their boutonnieres on, the queen candidates sped around the track at Liston Stadium in decorated golf carts. Wessel and Cosman, Gilliland and Craig, and Wright and Knight stood portraying true Baldwin Bulldog royalty while behind them the BHS band played. Then Wessel and Craig were crowned.

After the football victory, the week was capped off with a dance at the high school. Once again, homecoming was fun for all.

"The team won, knowing that it was homecoming probably made the game more important to win and have spirit week really, in my opinion, increased our level of play due to the excitement," said Knight.